The result last year of what was supposed to be a routine police welfare check at the home of NAACP Rockford Branch President Lloyd Johnston was satisfactory. No one was hurt and the situation was resolved peacefully.

But at what cost?

The incident has added to the long-simmering feud between Rockford Police Chief Chet Epperson and the police union — the men and women on the streets who are responsible for keeping you safe.

The tension between the union and the chief has escalated to the point that the union has filed a formal complaint against Epperson with the Rockford Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.

The union contends that the chief improperly injected himself into a welfare check in progress and undermined the authority of the three officers on the scene. The word “incompetence” was used to describe the chief’s actions.

The union had hoped its informal requests for an investigation would be enough. When those requests were denied, union officials wrote the formal request.

The Fire and Police Commission is expected to schedule a hearing to determine probable cause.

The circumstances surrounding what happened Oct. 30 demand a full, fair, impartial, independent investigation. We wrote that sentence in November and still believe it today.

The Fire and Police Commission could ask the Winnebago County Integrity Task Force, which comprises 15 agencies, to handle the investigation. Mostly, the task force has looked into officer-related shootings, but there is plenty of expertise among members of the group to conduct an investigation into Epperson’s actions.

There may be some anti-Epperson sentiment among members of that group, however, so a more appropriate approach may be to solicit a retired state’s attorney from another county to pick a team and lead the probe.

It will not be an easy task. Accurate records of what happened more than eight months ago may be difficult to obtain. Difficult, but not impossible. The investigation will need to be meticulous.

Rockford has plenty of challenges because of the high crime rate in the community. It can’t become a top-25 community unless crime is reduced significantly. Public safety is a key issue as Transform Rockford begins the arduous task of making this a better place to live, work and play.

The distrust between chief and officers hinders the crime-fighting ability of the force. Officers must be confident that their actions will not be second-guessed by brass sitting behind a desk downtown.

Statistics may show that crime has declined, but how many of your friends and neighbors feel safer? Officers don’t need to like Epperson to be effective, but they do need to know that he supports the difficult job they do.

Page 2 of 2 - Johnston was within his rights to keep officers from entering his home without a warrant. But did he receive preferential treatment because he had the chief’s cellphone number? Are there certain residents of Rockford who can call up the chief and make their problems disappear? That could be another aspect to the investigation.

An independent investigation is not going to repair the rift between the chief and the union. An independent investigation will not make Rockford a safer community tomorrow. However, an independent investigation could be a step toward building trust not only within the Police Department but in the community as a whole.